View source for Niger–Congo languages

{{short description|Large language family of Sub-Saharan Africa}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Niger–Congo
| acceptance    = hypothetical
| region        = [[Africa]]
| protoname     = [[Proto-Niger–Congo language]]
| familycolor   = Niger-Congo
| family        = Proposed language family
| child1        = [[Dogon languages|Dogon]]
| child2        = [[Mande languages|Mande]]
| child3        = [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]]
| child4        = [[Katloid languages|Katla]]–[[Rashad languages|Rashad]] <small>([[Kordofanian languages|Kordofanian]])</small>
| child5        = [[Lafofa languages|Lafofa]] <small>([[Kordofanian languages|Kordofanian]])</small>
| child6        = 
| child7        = [[Kru languages|Kru]] <small>(sometimes considered [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]])</small>
| child8        = [[Siamou language|Siamou]] <small>(sometimes considered [[Kru languages|Kru]])</small>
| child9        = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]] <small>(noun classes)</small>
| child10       = 
| iso2          = nic
| glotto        = none
| map           = Map of the Niger–Congo languages.svg
| mapcaption    = Map showing the distribution of major Niger–Congo languages. Pink-red is the [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] subfamily.
| speakers      = 600 million<ref name="Speakers">{{Cite web|title=Niger Congo Languages|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Niger-Congo-languages|publisher=Britanica
|access-date=2025-04-28 }}</ref>
| date          = 2025
| ref           = 
}}

'''Niger–Congo''' is a proposed [[language family|family]] of languages spoken over the majority of [[sub-Saharan Africa]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Good |first=Jeff |year=2020 |chapter=Niger-Congo, with a special focus on Benue-Congo |editor1=Vossen, Rainer |editor2=Gerrit J. Dimmendaal |title=The Oxford Handbook of African Languages|publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-cfXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 |pages=139–160 |isbn=9780191007378 |quote=The term [Niger–Congo], as presently used, however, is not without its difficulties. On the one hand, it is employed as a referential label for a group of over 1,500 languages, putting it among the largest commonly cited language groups in the world. On the other hand, the term is also intended to embody a hypothesis of genealogical relationship between the referential NC languages that has not been proven (p.139)}}</ref> It unites the [[Mande languages]], the [[Atlantic–Congo languages]] (which share a characteristic [[noun class]] system), and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger–Congo would be the world's largest language family in terms of member languages,{{efn|[[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] has almost as many member languages,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7XhcYoFxaQC&pg=PA11|title=African Languages: An Introduction|last1=Heine|first1=Bernd|last2=Nurse|first2=Derek|date=2000-08-03|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521666299|pages=11|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C&pg=PA2036|title=Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society|last=Ammon|first=Ulrich|date=2006|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110184181|pages=2036|language=en}}</ref> although this comparison is complicated by the [[Dialect#Dialect or language|ambiguity about what constitutes a distinct language]].}} the third-largest in terms of speakers, and [[Languages of Africa|Africa's largest]] in terms of geographical area.<ref name="Niger-Congo Language Family2">Irene Thompson, [http://aboutworldlanguages.com/niger-congo-language-family "Niger-Congo Language Family"], "aboutworldlanguages", March 2015</ref> The number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by ''[[Ethnologue]]'' is 1,540.<ref>Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2018. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', Twenty-first edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.</ref>

The proposed family would be the third-largest in the world by number of native speakers, with around 600 million people as of 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Niger-Congo languages {{!}} African Language Family {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Niger-Congo-languages |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Within Niger–Congo, the [[Bantu languages]] alone account for 350 million people (2015), or half the total Niger–Congo speaking population. The most widely spoken Niger–Congo languages by number of native speakers are [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Fula language|Fula]], [[Lingala language|Lingala]], [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Fon language|Fon]], [[Ga–Dangme languages|Ga-Dangme]], [[Shona language|Shona]], [[Sesotho language|Sesotho]], [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], [[Zulu language|Zulu]], [[Akan language|Akan]], and [[Mooré language|Mooré]]. The most widely spoken by the total number of speakers is [[Swahili language|Swahili]], which is used as a [[lingua franca]] in parts of eastern and [[southeastern Africa]].<ref name="Niger-Congo Language Family2"/>

While the ultimate [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetic unity]] of the core of Niger–Congo (called [[Atlantic–Congo]]) is widely accepted, the internal cladistic structure is not well established. Other primary branches may include [[Mande languages|Mande]], [[Dogon languages|Dogon]], [[Ijaw languages|Ijaw]], [[Katla languages|Katla]] and [[Rashad languages|Rashad]]. The connection of the Mande languages especially has never been demonstrated, and without them, the validity of Niger–Congo family as a whole (as opposed to Atlantic–Congo or a similar subfamily) has not been established.

One of the most distinctive characteristics common to Atlantic–Congo languages is the use of a [[noun-class]] system, which is essentially a gender system with multiple genders.<ref>[http://languagesgulper.com/eng/Niger.html "Niger-Congo Languages"], "The Language Gulper", March 2015</ref>

== Origin ==
{{further|Linguistic homeland#Niger–Congo|Sub-Saharan Africa#Genetic history|Bantu expansion}}

The language family most likely originated in or near the area where these languages were spoken prior to [[Bantu expansion]] (i.e. West Africa or Central Africa). Its expansion may have been associated with the expansion of [[Sahel]] agriculture in the African Neolithic period, following the [[African humid period#End|desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3500 BCE]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003|title=The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews|volume=101|pages=28–35|year=2014|last1=Manning|first1=Katie|last2=Timpson|first2=Adrian|bibcode=2014QSRv..101...28M|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>Igor Kopytoff, ''The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies'' (1989), 9–10 (cited after [http://amightytree.org/niger-congo-languages-and-history/ Igbo Language Roots and (Pre)-History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717224506/http://amightytree.org/niger-congo-languages-and-history/ |date=2019-07-17 }}, ''A Mighty Tree'', 2011).</ref>

Similar classifications to Niger–Congo have been made ever since [[Diedrich Westermann]] in 1922.<ref>Westermann, D. 1922a. ''Die Sprache der Guang''. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.</ref> [[Joseph Greenberg]] continued that tradition, making it the starting point for modern linguistic classification in Africa, with some of his publications going to press starting in the 1960s.<ref>Greenberg, J. H. 1964. ''Historical inferences from linguistic research in sub-Saharan Africa''. Boston University Papers in African History, 1:1–15.</ref> However, there has been active debate for many decades over the appropriate subclassifications of the languages in this language family, which is a key tool used in localising a language's place of origin.<ref name="rogerblench.info2">{{cite web|last=Blench|first= Roger|title= Unpublished Working Draft |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/General/Benue-Congo%20classification%20latest.pdf|website=www.rogerblench.info}}</ref>{{bsn|date=July 2025}} No definitive "[[Proto-Niger–Congo language|Proto-Niger–Congo]]" lexicon or grammar has been developed for the language family as a whole.

An important unresolved issue in determining the time and place where the Niger–Congo languages originated and their range prior to recorded history is this language family's relationship to the [[Kordofanian languages]], now spoken in the [[Nuba Mountains]] of [[Sudan]], which is not contiguous with the remainder of the Niger–Congo-language-speaking region and is at the northeasternmost extent of the current Niger–Congo linguistic region. The current prevailing linguistic view is that the Kordofanian languages are part of the Niger–Congo language family and may be the oldest languages in the region.<ref>Herman Bell. 1995. ''The Nuba Mountains: Who Spoke What in 1976?'' (the published results from a major project of the Institute of African and Asian Studies: the Language Survey of the Nuba Mountains.)</ref><ref name=Britannica>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kordofanian-languages | title=Kordofanian languages &#124; Kordofanian, Niger-Congo, Chadic &#124; Britannica }}</ref> The evidence is insufficient to determine if this outlier group of Niger–Congo language speakers represents a prehistoric range of a Niger–Congo linguistic region that has since contracted as other languages have intruded, or if instead, this represents a group of Niger–Congo language speakers who migrated to the area at some point in prehistory where they were an isolated linguistic community from the beginning.

There is more agreement regarding the place of origin of [[Benue–Congo]], the largest subfamily of the group. Within Benue–Congo, the place of origin of the [[Bantu languages]] as well as time at which it started to expand is known with great specificity. Blench (2004), relying particularly on prior work by [[Kay Williamson]] and P. De Wolf, argued that Benue–Congo probably originated at the confluence of the [[Benue River|Benue]] and [[Niger River]]s in central [[Nigeria]].<ref name="rogerblench.info">Blench, Roger, [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/General/Benue-Congo%20classification%20latest.pdf "The Benue-Congo languages: a proposed internal classification"].{{unreliable source?|date=May 2018}}<!--come on, he even asks in ALLCAPS that this should not be cited. -->
"No comprehensive reconstruction has yet been done for the phylum as a whole, and it is sometimes suggested (e.g. by Dixon 1997) that Niger-Congo is merely a typological and not a genetic unity. This view is not held by any specialists in the phylum, and reasons for thinking Niger-Congo is a true genetic unity will be given in this chapter. It is, however, true that the subclassification of the phylum has been continuously modified in recent years and cannot be presented as an agreed scheme. The factors which have delayed reconstruction are the large number of languages, the inaccessibility of much of the data, and the paucity of able researchers committed to this field. Emphasis will be placed on three characteristics of Niger-Congo; noun-class systems, verbal extensions, and basic lexicon."
See also: Bendor-Samuel, J. ed. 1989. ''The Niger–Congo Languages''. Lanham: University Press of America.</ref><ref>Williamson, K. 1971. "The Benue–Congo languages and Ijo" ''Current Trends in Linguistics'', 7. ed. T. Sebeok 245–306. The Hague: Mouton.</ref><ref>Williamson, K. 1988. "Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta". ''The early history of the Niger Delta'', edited by E. J. Alagoa, F. N. Anozie and N. Nzewunwa. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.</ref><ref>Williamson, K. 1989. "Benue–Congo Overview" in ''The Niger–Congo Languages''. J. Bendor-Samuel ed. Lanham: University Press of America.</ref><ref>De Wolf, P. 1971. ''The noun class system of Proto-Benue–Congo''. The Hague: Mouton.</ref><ref>Blench, R. M. 1989. "A proposed new classification of Benue–Congo languages". ''Afrikanische Arbeitspapiere'',
Köln, 17:115–147.</ref> These estimates of the place of origin of the Benue–Congo language family do not fix a date for the start of that expansion, other than that it must have been sufficiently prior to the [[Bantu expansion]] to allow for the diversification of the languages within this language family that includes Bantu.

The classification of the relatively divergent family of the [[Ubangian languages]], centred in the [[Central African Republic]], as part of the Niger–Congo language family is disputed. Ubangian was grouped with Niger–Congo by Greenberg (1963), and later authorities concurred,<ref name="Williamson2000"/> but it was questioned by Dimmendaal (2008).<ref>[[Gerrit Dimmendaal]] (2008) "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent", ''Language and Linguistics Compass'' 2/5:841.</ref>

The [[Bantu expansion]], beginning around 1000 BC, swept across much of Central and [[Southern Africa]], leading to the assimilation and extinction of many of the indigenous [[Pygmy]] and [[Bushmen]] ([[Khoisan]]) populations there.<ref>Martin H. Steinberg, ''Disorders of Hemoglobin: Genetics, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Management'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PM0zzm7wbvsC&pg=PA717 p. 717].</ref>

== Major branches ==
The following is an overview of the language groups usually included in Niger–Congo. The genetic relationship of some branches is not universally accepted, and the cladistic connection between those who are accepted as related may also be unclear.

The core phylum of the Niger–Congo group are the Atlantic–Congo languages. The non-Atlantic–Congo languages within Niger–Congo are grouped as [[Dogon languages|Dogon]], [[Mande languages|Mande]], [[Ijaw languages|Ijo]] (sometimes with [[Defaka language|Defaka]] as [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]]), [[Katla languages|Katla]], and [[Rashad languages|Rashad]].

===Atlantic–Congo===
{{see|Atlantic–Congo languages|Languages of Nigeria}}Atlantic–Congo combines the [[Atlantic languages]], which do not form one branch, and [[Volta–Congo languages|Volta–Congo]]. It comprises more than 80% of the Niger–Congo speaking population, or close to 600 million people (2015).

The proposed [[Savannas languages|Savannas group]] combines [[Adamawa languages|Adamawa]], [[Ubangian languages|Ubangian]] and [[Gur languages|Gur]]. Outside of the Savannas group, Volta–Congo comprises [[Kru languages|Kru]], [[Kwa languages|Kwa]] (or "West Kwa"), [[Volta–Niger languages|Volta–Niger]] (also "East Kwa" or "West Benue–Congo"), and [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]] (or "East Benue–Congo"). Volta–Niger includes the two largest [[languages of Nigeria]], [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], and [[Igbo language|Igbo]]. Benue–Congo includes the [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]] group, which is dominated by the [[Bantu languages]], which account for 350 million people (2015), or half the total Niger–Congo speaking population.

The strict genetic unity of any of these subgroups may themselves be under dispute. For example, [[Roger Blench]] (2012) argued that [[Adamawa languages|Adamawa]], [[Ubangian languages|Ubangian]], [[Kwa languages|Kwa]], [[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]], and [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] are not coherent groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/General/Niger-Congo%20an%20alternative%20view.pdf|title=Niger-Congo: an alternative view|publisher=Rogerblench.info|access-date=2012-12-29}} {{cite web|url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/General/NCgenOP.htm|title=Roger Blench: Niger-Congo reconstruction|publisher=Rogerblench.info|access-date=2012-12-29}}</ref>

Although the Kordofanian branch is generally included in the Niger–Congo languages, some researchers do not agree with its inclusion. ''[[Glottolog]]'' 3.4 (2019)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/glottolog/family|title=Glottolog 3.4 -|website=glottolog.org}}</ref> does not accept that the [[Kordofanian languages|Kordofanian]] branches ([[Lafofa languages|Lafofa]], [[Talodi languages|Talodi]] and [[Heiban languages|Heiban]]) or the difficult-to-classify [[Laal language]] have been demonstrated to be Atlantic–Congo languages. It otherwise accepts the family but not its inclusion within a broader Niger–Congo. Glottolog also considers [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]], [[Mande languages|Mande]], and [[Dogon languages|Dogon]] to be independent language phyla that have not been demonstrated to be related to each other.

The Atlantic–Congo group is characterised by the [[noun class]] systems of its languages. Atlantic–Congo largely corresponds to Mukarovsky's "Western Nigritic" phylum.<ref>Hans G. Mukarovsky, ''A Study of Western Nigritic'', 2 vols. (1976–1977). Blench (2004): "Almost simultaneously [with Greenberg (1963)], Mukarovsky (1976–7) published his analysis of 'Western Nigritic'. Mukarovsky's basic theme was the relationship between the reconstructions of Bantu of Guthrie and other writers and the languages of West Africa. Mukarovsky excluded Kordofanian, Mande, Ijo, Dogon, Adamawa-Ubangian and most Bantoid languages for unknown reasons, thus reconstructing an idiosyncratic grouping. Nonetheless, he buttressed his argument with an extremely valuable compilation of data, establishing the case for Bantu/Niger-Congo genetic link beyond reasonable doubt."</ref>

;'''[[Atlantic languages|Atlantic]]'''

The [[polyphyletic]] Atlantic group accounts for about 35 million speakers as of 2016, mostly accounted for by [[Fula language|Fula]] and [[Wolof language|Wolof]] speakers. Atlantic is not considered to constitute a valid group.
*[[Senegambian languages]]: includes [[Wolof language|Wolof]], spoken in [[Senegal]], and [[Fula language|Fula]], spoken across the [[Sahel]]. <!--30M as of 2006, essentially Fula+Wolof, with non-Fula, non-Wolof probably less than 1M -->
*[[Bak languages]], sometimes grouped with Senegambian <!--1.7M as of 2006-->
*[[Mel languages]]<!--about 3M as of 2016, mostly Temne+Kissi-->
*[[Limba language]]<!--340k as of 1989-->
*[[Gola language]] <!-- 110k in 1990-->

;'''[[Volta–Congo]]'''
*'''North-Volta'''
**'''[[Kru languages|Kru]]''': languages of the [[Kru people]] in [[West Africa]]; includes [[Bété language|Bété]], [[Nyabwa language|Nyabwa]], and [[Dida language|Dida]].<!--about 1M to 1.5M? (mostly Bété+Dida, about 600k in 1990)-->
**[[Adamawa–Ubangi languages|Adamawa-Ubangi]]:
***'''[[Adamawa languages|Adamawa]]''': close to 100 languages and dialects scattered across the [[Adamawa Plateau]], spoken by an estimated total of 1.6 million as of 1996; the largest is [[Mumuye language|Mumuye]], accounting for about a quarter of Adamawa speakers.
***'''[[Ubangian languages|Ubangian]]''': a group of minor languages spoken in the [[Central African Republic]]. May be an independent family or grouped with Adamawa as "[[Adamawa–Ubangi languages|Adamawa-Ubangi]]".<!--1.5M in 1987 -- about 3M as of 2016? [Ethnologue]-->
**'''[[Gur languages|Gur]]''': about 70 languages spoken in the Sahel and Savanna regions of West Africa, accounting for some 20 million speakers (2010). The largest language of this group is [[Mooré language|Mooré)]], with over 12 million speakers. Gur and Adamawa-Ubangi have also been grouped as [[Savannas languages]].
**'''[[Senufo languages|Senufo]]''': languages of the [[Senufo people]] (about 3 million speakers as of 2010), spoken in [[Ivory Coast]] and [[Mali]], with a geographical outlier in [[Ghana]]; includes [[Senari language|Senari]] and [[Supyire language|Supyire]]. Senufo has been placed traditionally within Gur but is now usually considered an early offshoot from Atlantic–Congo.
*'''South-Volta'''
**'''[[Kwa languages|Kwa]]''': a divergent [[linkage (linguistics)|linkage]]<ref name="Blench2012"/> of languages of uncertain genetic unity, spoken along the Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana and in central Togo, with a total of some 40 million speakers (2010s). The largest language in this group is [[Akan language|Akan]], spoken in [[Ghana]], with about 22 million speakers as of 2014, including [[Twi]] (9 million in 2015).
**'''[[Volta–Niger languages|Volta–Niger]]''' (also known as "West Benue–Congo" or "East Kwa"): a large [[linkage (linguistics)|linkage]]<ref name="Blench2012"/> of West African languages, accounting for roughly 110–120 million speakers (late 2010s).
***[[Gbe languages|Gbe]]: spoken in [[Ghana]], [[Togo]], [[Benin]] and [[Nigeria]], of which [[Ewe language|Ewe]] (7 million speakers in 2017) is the largest and best known.
***"{{Sc|[[YEAI]]}}": a large group of languages centred on Nigeria, accounting for about 100 million speakers (late 2010s)
****[[Yoruboid]]: 50 million speakers (2010s), including [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] (c. 40 million 2017)
****[[Edoid]]: including [[Edo language|Edo]] (24 million 2010s)<!--8–10M total-->
****[[Akoko language|Akoko]] <!-- <1M-->
****[[Igboid]]: including [[Igbo language|Igbo]] (24 million 2011) <!--plus c. 3M Igbo dialects, about 30M total (2016)-->
***"{{Sc|NOI}}":
****[[Nupoid]]: c. 3 million ({{circa|1990}} estimates)<!--presumably close to 6–7M in 2016-->
****[[Oko language|Oko]]: a minor dialect continuum spoken in [[Kogi State]]<!-- <100k-->
****[[Idomoid]]: group of languages of central Nigeria, including [[Idoma language|Idoma]] with 1 to 2 million speakers (2010s)
***[[Ayere–Ahan languages|Ayere-Ahan]] (moribund or extinct)
**'''[[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]''' [[linkage (linguistics)|linkage]]<ref name="Blench2012">Blench, Roger. 2012. [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/General/Niger-Congo%20an%20alternative%20view.pdf Niger-Congo: an alternative view].</ref> (East Benue–Congo)
***Bantoid-Cross:
****[[Cross River languages|Cross River]]
****[[Northern Bantoid languages|Northern Bantoid]]:
*****[[Dakoid languages|Dakoid]]?
*****[[Fam language|Fam]]?
*****[[Tikar language|Tikar]]?<!--110k 2005-->
*****[[Mambiloid languages|Mambiloid]]
****[[Bendi languages|Bendi]]
****[[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]: includes the far-flung [[Bantu languages]] spread across Sub-Saharan Africa in the [[Bantu expansion]] from {{Circa|1000 BCE}} to 500 CE.
*****Tivoid-Beboid: a large range of languages of southwestern Cameroon and southeastern Nigeria: [[Tivoid languages|Tivoid]],<!--2M 1990s--> [[Esimbi language|Esimbi]], [[East Beboid languages|East Beboid]], [[West Beboid languages|West Beboid]]?, [[Momo languages|Momo]]?, [[Furu languages|Furu]]?, [[Buru language (Nigeria)|Buru]]?, [[Menchum language|Menchum]]?
*****[[Ekoid languages|Ekoid]]-[[Mbe language|Mbe]]<!-- <1M-->
*****[[Mamfe languages|Mamfe]]
*****[[Grassfields languages|Grassfields]]
*****[[Jarawan languages|Jarawan]]-[[Mbam languages|Mbam]]
*****'''[[Bantu languages|Bantu]]''': divided into [[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages|Guthrie zones A–S]], for a total of between 250 and 550 named languages.
***Central Nigerian (Platoid): [[Jukunoid languages|Jukunoid]]<!--310k (1990s)-->, [[Kainji languages|Kainji]]<!--roughly 2 million (2000s)? review needed-->, [[Plateau languages|Plateau]]<!--c. 4M (2010s)-->
***other languages unclassified within Benue–Congo: [[Ukaan language|Ukaan]], [[Fali of Baissa]], [[Tita language|Tita]].

===Other===
<!--roughly 90 million in the non-Atlantic-Congo groups as of 2016, mostly Mande (70M in 2016) plus Ijaw (14M in 2011)-->
The putative Niger–Congo languages outside of the Atlantic–Congo family are centred in the upper [[Senegal River|Senegal]] and [[Niger River|Niger]] river basins, south and west of [[Timbuktu]] ([[Mande languages|Mande]], [[Dogon languages|Dogon]]), the [[Niger Delta]] ([[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]]), and far to the east in south-central Sudan, around the [[Nuba Mountains]] (the [[Kordofanian languages|Kordofanian]] families). They account for a total population of about 100 million (2015), mostly [[Mandé peoples|Mandé]] and [[Ijaw people|Ijaw]].
*[[Dogon languages|Dogon]]: languages of the [[Dogon people]] of [[Mali]], estimated at 1.6 million as of 2013. May have a noun-class system related to the Atlantic–Congo languages.
*[[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]]: [[Ijaw languages|Ijaw]], the languages of the [[Ijaw people]] (3 million as of 2011), plus the moribund [[Defaka language]].
*[[Mande languages|Mande]]: languages of the [[Mandé peoples]], estimated at 70 million as of 2016
*[[Bangime language|Bangime]], spoken in Dogon country but seemingly unrelated to Dogon.
*[[Siamou language|Siamou]], once classified as Kru.

=== "Kordofanian" ===
The various [[Kordofanian languages]] are spoken in south-central Sudan, around the [[Nuba Mountains]], [[Languages of the Nuba Mountains|an area of linguistic diversity]]. "Kordofanian" is a geographic grouping, not a genetic one, named for the [[Kordofan]] region. These are minor languages, spoken by a total of about 100,000 people according to 1980s estimates. Katla and Rashad languages show isoglosses with Benue–Congo that the other families lack.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935345-e-3|title=Niger-Congo: A brief state of the art |last1=Dimmendaal|first1=Gerrit J.|last2=Storch|first2=Anne|date=2016-02-11|website=Oxford Handbooks Online|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.3|isbn=978-0-19-993534-5 |access-date=2020-03-26}}</ref><!--REALLY outdated figure, but even with 3% p.a. growth, there would be less than 300,000 speakers in this group as of 2020-->

* [[Talodi languages]] <!--6,000 (1980s) w Heiban-->
* [[Heiban languages]]
* [[Lafofa languages]] <!--5,000 (1980s)-->
* [[Rashad languages]] <!--50,000 (1980s)-->
* [[Katla languages]] <!--30,000 (1980s)-->

The endangered or extinct [[Laal language|Laal]], [[Mpre language|Mpre]] and [[Jalaa language|Jalaa]] languages are often assigned to Niger–Congo.

<gallery>
File:Niger-Congo map.png| Overview map
File:Nigeria Benin Cameroon languages.png|Overview map of Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon
File:Niger-Congo speakers.png| Table of demographic estimates in the same color code as the maps (est. 400 million speakers as of 2007)
</gallery>

== Classification history ==
=== Early classifications ===
Niger–Congo as it is known today was only gradually recognized as a linguistic unit. In early classifications of the [[languages of Africa]], one of the principal criteria used to distinguish different groupings was the languages' use of prefixes to classify nouns, or the lack thereof. A major advance came with the work of [[Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle]], who in his 1854 ''[[Polyglotta Africana]]'' attempted a careful classification, the groupings of which in quite a number of cases correspond to modern groupings. An early sketch of the extent of Niger–Congo as one language family can be found in Koelle's observation, echoed in [[Wilhelm Bleek|Bleek]] (1856), that the Atlantic languages used prefixes just like many Southern African languages. Subsequent work of Bleek, and some decades later the comparative work of [[Carl Meinhof|Meinhof]], solidly established [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] as a linguistic unit.

In many cases, wider classifications employed a blend of typological and racial criteria. Thus, [[Friedrich Müller (linguist)|Friedrich Müller]], in his ambitious classification (1876–88), separated the 'Negro' and Bantu languages. Likewise, the Africanist [[Karl Richard Lepsius]] considered Bantu to be of African origin, and many 'Mixed Negro languages' as products of an encounter between Bantu and intruding Asiatic languages.

In this period a relation between Bantu and languages with Bantu-like (but less complete) noun class systems began to emerge. Some authors saw the latter as languages which had not yet completely evolved to full Bantu status, whereas others regarded them as languages which had partly lost original features still found in Bantu. The Bantuist Meinhof made a major distinction between Bantu and a 'Semi-Bantu' group which according to him was originally of the unrelated Sudanic stock.

=== Westermann, Greenberg, and others ===
[[File:Westermann 1911 Sudansprachen cover.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Westermann's 1911 ''Die Sudansprachen: Eine sprachvergleichende Studie'' laid much of the basis for the understanding of Niger–Congo.]]
[[Diedrich Hermann Westermann|Westermann]], a pupil of Meinhof, set out to establish the internal classification of the then [[Sudanic languages]]. In a 1911 work he established a basic division between 'East' and 'West'. A historical reconstruction of West Sudanic was published in 1927, and in his 1935 'Charakter und Einteilung der Sudansprachen' he conclusively established the relationship between Bantu and West Sudanic.

[[Joseph Greenberg]] took Westermann's work as a starting-point for his own classification. In a series of articles published between 1949 and 1954, he argued that Westermann's 'West Sudanic' and Bantu formed a single genetic family, which he named Niger–Congo; that Bantu constituted a subgroup of the Benue–Congo branch; that Adamawa-Eastern, previously not considered to be related, was another member of this family; and that Fula belonged to the West Atlantic languages. Just before these articles were collected in final book form (''[[The Languages of Africa]]'') in 1963, he amended his classification by adding [[Kordofanian]] as a branch co-ordinate with Niger–Congo as a whole; consequently, he renamed the family ''Congo-Kordofanian'', later ''Niger–Kordofanian''. Greenberg's work on African languages, though initially greeted with scepticism, became the prevailing view among scholars.<ref name="Williamson2000">{{cite book|last1=Williamson|first1=Kay|last2=Blench|first2=Roger|chapter=Niger-Congo|title=African Languages: An Introduction|editor=Bernd Heine|editor2=Derek Nurse|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|pages=11–12}}</ref>

Bennet and Sterk (1977) presented an internal reclassification based on lexicostatistics that laid the foundation for the regrouping in [[John Bendor-Samuel|Bendor-Samuel]] (1989). Kordofanian was presented as one of several primary branches rather than being coordinate to the family as a whole, prompting re-introduction of the term ''Niger–Congo'', which is in current use among linguists. Many classifications continue to place Kordofanian as the most distant branch, but mainly due to negative evidence (fewer lexical correspondences), rather than positive evidence that the other languages form a valid genealogical group. Likewise, Mande is often assumed to be the second-most distant branch based on its lack of the noun-class system prototypical of the Niger–Congo family. Other branches lacking any trace of the noun-class system are Dogon and Ijaw, whereas the Talodi branch of Kordofanian does have cognate noun classes, suggesting that Kordofanian is also not a unitary group.

[[Konstantin Pozdniakov|Pozdniakov]] (2012) stated: "The hypothesis of kinship between Niger–Congo languages didn't appear as a result of discovery of numerous related forms, for example, in Mande and Adamawa. It appeared as a result of comparison between the Bantu languages, for which the classical [[comparative method]] was possible to be applied and which were reliably reconstructed, with other African languages. Niger–Congo does not exist without Bantu. We need to say clearly that if we establish a [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetic relationship]] between a form in Bantu and in Atlantic languages, or between Bantu and Mande, we have all grounds to trace this form back to Niger–Congo. If we establish such a relationship between Mel and Kru or between Mande and Dogon, we don't have enough reason to claim it Niger–Congo. In other words, all Niger–Congo languages are equal, but [[Bantu languages]] are "more equal" than the others."<ref name="Pozdniakov">{{cite journal |last1=Pozdniakov |first1=Konstantin |title=From Atlantic to Niger-Congo: three, two, one ... |journal=Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: Comparison and Reconstruction International Congress |date=September 18–21, 2012 |page=2 |url=https://llacan.cnrs.fr/fichiers/nigercongo/fichiers/Pozdniakov_NC_numbers.pdf}}</ref>

''[[Glottolog]]'' (2013) accepts the core with noun-class systems, the [[Atlantic–Congo languages]], apart from the recent inclusion of some of the Kordofanian groups, but not Niger–Congo as a whole. They list the following as separate families: Atlantic–Congo, Mande, Dogon, Ijoid, Lafofa, Katla-Tima, Heiban, Talodi, and Rashad.

Babaev (2013) stated: "The truth here is that almost no attempts in fact have been made to verify Greenberg's Niger–Congo hypothesis. This might seem strange but the path laid by Joseph Greenberg to Proto–Niger–Congo was not followed by much research. Most scholars have focused on individual families or groups, and classifications as well as reconstructions were made on lower levels. Compared with the volume of literature on Atlantic or Mande languages, the list of papers considering the aspects of Niger–Congo reconstruction per se is quite scarce."<ref name="Babaev">{{cite journal |last1=Babaev |first1=Kirill |title=Joseph Greenberg and the Current State of Niger-Congo |journal=Journal of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory |date=2013 |issue=18 |page=19 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313725739}}</ref>

''Oxford Handbooks Online'' (2016) has indicated that the continuing reassessment of Niger–Congo's "internal structure is due largely to the preliminary nature of Greenberg's classification, explicitly based as it was on a methodology that doesn't produce proofs for genetic affiliations between languages but rather aims at identifying "likely candidates."...The ongoing descriptive and documentary work on individual languages and their varieties, greatly expanding our knowledge on formerly little-known linguistic regions, is helping to identify clusters and units that allow for the application of the historical-comparative method. Only the reconstruction of lower-level units, instead of "big picture" contributions based on mass comparison, can help to verify (or disprove) our present concept of Niger–Congo as a genetic grouping consisting of Benue–Congo plus Volta–Niger, Kwa, Adamawa plus Gur, Kru, the so-called Kordofanian languages, and probably the language groups traditionally classified as Atlantic."<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935345-e-3|chapter=Niger-Congo|first1=Anne|last1=Storch|first2=Gerrit J.|last2=Dimmendaal|title=Oxford Handbook Topics in Linguistics |date=11 February 2016|via=www.oxfordhandbooks.com|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.3|isbn=978-0-19-993534-5}}</ref>

The coherence of Niger–Congo as a language phylum is supported by Grollemund, et al. (2016), using [[computational phylogenetic]] methods.<ref>Rebecca Grollemund, Simon Branford, Jean-Marie Hombert & Mark Pagel. 2016. [http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/nigercongo2/abstracts/Grollemund_Hombert_Pagel-Genetic%20Unity%20of%20the%20Niger-Congo%20family.pdf Genetic unity of the Niger-Congo family]. Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: comparison and reconstruction (2nd International Congress)</ref> The East/West Volta–Congo division, West/East Benue–Congo division, and North/South Bantoid division are not supported, whereas a [[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]] group consisting of Ekoid, Bendi, Dakoid, Jukunoid, Tivoid, Mambiloid, Beboid, Mamfe, Tikar, Grassfields, and Bantu is supported.

The [[Automated Similarity Judgment Program]] (ASJP) also groups many Niger–Congo branches together.

[[Gerrit Dimmendaal|Dimmendaal]], Crevels, and Muysken (2020) stated: "Greenberg's hypothesis of Niger–Congo phylum has sometimes been taken as an established fact rather than a hypothesis awaiting further proof, but there have also been attempts to look at his argumentation in more detail. Much of the discussion concerning Niger–Congo after Greenberg's seminal contribution in fact centered around the inclusion or exclusion of specific languages or language groups."<ref name="Dimmendaal">{{cite book |last1=Dimmendaal |first1=Gerrit J. |last2=Crevels |first2=Mily |last3=Muysken |first3=Pieter |title=Language Dispersal, Diversification, and Contact |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=201 |isbn=978-0-19-872381-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xbryDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |chapter=Patterns of dispersal and diversification in Africa}}</ref>

Good (2020) stated: "First proposed by Greenberg (1949), Niger–Congo (NC) has for decades been treated as one of the four major phyla of [[African languages]]. The term, as presently used, however, is not without its difficulties. On the one hand, it is employed as a referential label for a group of over 1,500 languages, putting it among the largest commonly cited language groups in the world. On the other hand, the term is also intended to embody a [[hypothesis]] of genealogical relationship between the referential NC languages that has not been proven."<ref name="Good">{{cite book |last1=Good |first1=Jeff |title=The Oxford Handbook of African Languages |date=Mar 19, 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-960989-5 |page=139 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8fXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 |chapter=Niger-Congo, With A Special Focus On Benue Congo}}</ref>

=== Reconstruction ===
{{main|Proto-Niger–Congo language}}
The lexicon of [[Proto-Niger–Congo|Proto–Niger–Congo]] (or Proto-Atlantic–Congo) has not been comprehensively reconstructed, although [[Konstantin Pozdniakov]] reconstructed the [[numeral system]] of Proto–Niger–Congo in 2018.<ref name="pozdniakov">{{Cite book
| last = Pozdniakov
| first = Konstantin
| author-link = Konstantin Pozdniakov
| title = The numeral system of Proto-Niger-Congo: A step-by-step reconstruction 
| series = Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 
| place = Berlin
| publisher = Language Science Press
| date = 2018
| format = pdf
| url = http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/191
| doi = 10.5281/zenodo.1311704 
| doi-access=free
| isbn = 978-3-96110-098-9
}}</ref> The most extensive reconstructions of lower-order Niger–Congo branches include several reconstructions of [[Proto-Bantu]], which has consequently had a disproportionate influence on conceptions of what Proto–Niger–Congo may have been like. The only stage higher than Proto-Bantu that has been reconstructed is a pilot project by Stewart, who since the 1970s has reconstructed the common ancestor of the [[Potou–Tano languages|Potou-Tano]] and Bantu languages, without so far considering the hundreds of other languages which presumably descend from that same ancestor.<ref>Tom Gueldemann (2018) ''Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa'', p. 146.</ref>

=== Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan{{anchor|Kongo–Saharan}} ===
{{see also|Nilo-Saharan languages#Blench 2006}}
Over the years, several linguists have suggested a link between Niger–Congo and the proposed [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]] language family, probably starting with Westermann's comparative work on the "[[Sudanic languages|Sudanic]]" family in which '[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]' (proposed to be classified as Nilo-Saharan) and '[[Western Sudanic languages|Western Sudanic]]' (now classified as Niger–Congo) were united. Gregersen (1972) proposed that Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan be united into a larger phylum, which he termed ''Kongo-Saharan''. His evidence was mainly based on the uncertainty in the classification of [[Songhay languages|Songhay]], morphological resemblances, and lexical similarities. A more recent proponent was [[Roger Blench]] (1995), who puts forward phonological, morphological and lexical evidence for uniting Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan in a ''Niger–Saharan'' phylum, with special affinity between Niger–Congo and [[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]. However, fifteen years later his views had changed, with Blench (2011) proposing instead that the [[noun-classifier]] system of Central Sudanic, commonly reflected in a tripartite [[general number|general]]-[[singulative]]-[[plurative]] number system, triggered the development or elaboration of the [[noun-class]] system of the [[Atlantic–Congo languages]], with tripartite number marking surviving in the [[Plateau languages|Plateau]] and [[Gur languages]] of Niger–Congo, and the lexical similarities being due to loans.

== Common features ==
=== Phonology ===
Niger–Congo languages have a clear preference for [[open syllable]]s of the type CV (Consonant Vowel). The typical word structure of [[Proto-Niger-Congo|Proto–Niger–Congo]] (though it has not been reconstructed) is thought to have been CVCV, a structure still attested in, for example, Bantu, Mande and Ijoid – in many other branches this structure has been reduced through [[phonology|phonological]] change. Verbs are composed of a root followed by one or more extensional suffixes. Nouns consist of a root originally preceded by a noun class prefix of (C)V- shape which is often eroded by phonological change.

==== Consonants ====
Several branches of Niger–Congo have a regular phonological contrast between two classes of consonants. Pending more clarity as to the precise nature of this contrast, it is commonly characterized as a contrast between [[fortis and lenis]] consonants.

==== Vowels ====
Many Niger–Congo languages' [[vowel harmony]] is based on the [ATR] ([[advanced tongue root]]) feature. In this type of vowel harmony, the position of the root of the tongue in regards to backness is the phonetic basis for the distinction between two harmonizing sets of vowels. In its fullest form, this type involves two classes, each of five vowels.<ref name="Morton 2012:70-71">{{cite book|last=Morton|first=Deborah|url=http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/42/paper2759.pdf|title=Harmony in an Eleven Vowel Language|year=2012|pages=70–71|publisher=Cascadilla Proceedings Project |isbn=978-1-57473-453-9}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [+ATR] !! [−ATR]
|-
| [i] || [ɪ]
|-
| [e] || [ɛ]
|-
| [ə] || [a]
|-
| [o] || [ɔ]
|-
| [u] || [ʊ]
|}

The roots are then divided into [+ATR] and [−ATR] categories. This feature is lexically assigned to the roots because there is no determiner within a normal root that causes the [ATR] value.<ref name="Unseth 2009:2-3">{{cite journal |last=Unseth |first=Carla |url=http://www.gial.edu/images/opal/No-7-Unseth-Wolof-Vowel-Harmony.pdf |title=Vowel Harmony in Wolof |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903194104/http://www.gial.edu/images/opal/No-7-Unseth-Wolof-Vowel-Harmony.pdf |archive-date=September 3, 2013 |journal=Occasional Papers in Applied Linguistics |publisher=Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics |year=2009 |issue=2–3 }}</ref>

There are two types of [ATR] vowel harmony controllers in Niger–Congo. The first controller is the root. When a root contains a [+ATR] or [−ATR] vowel, then that value is applied to the rest of the word, which involves crossing morpheme boundaries.<ref name="Bakovic 2000:ii">{{cite thesis |last=Bakovic |first=Eric |url=http://roa.rutgers.edu/files/360-1199/roa-360-bakovic-2.pdf |title=Harmony, Dominance and Control |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey |year=2000 |page=ii }}</ref> For example, suffixes in [[Wolof language|Wolof]] assimilate to the [ATR] value of the root to which they attach. The following examples of these suffixes alternate depending on the root.<ref name="Unseth 2009:2-3" />

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [+ATR] !! [−ATR] !! Purpose
|-
| -le || -lɛ || 'participant' 
|-
| -o || -ɔ || 'nominalizing'
|-
| -əl || -al || 'benefactive' 
|}

Furthermore, the directionality of assimilation in [ATR] root-controlled vowel harmony need not be specified. The root features [+ATR] and [−ATR] spread left and/or right as needed, so that no vowel would lack a specification and be ill-formed.<ref name="Clements 1981">{{cite journal |last=Clements |first=G. N. |year=1981 |title=Akan vowel harmony: A non-linear analysis |journal=Harvard Studies in Phonology |volume=2 |pages=108–177 }}</ref>

Unlike in the root-controlled harmony system, where the two [ATR] values behave symmetrically, a large number of Niger–Congo languages exhibit a pattern where the [+ATR] value is more active or dominant than the [−ATR] value.<ref name="Casali 2002:29">{{cite journal |last=Casali |first=Roderic F. |url=http://www.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/Files/pdf/29-1/JWAL-29-1-Casali.pdf |title=Nawuri ATR Harmony in Typological Perspective |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330141738/http://www.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/Files/pdf/29-1/JWAL-29-1-Casali.pdf |archive-date=March 30, 2014 |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics |year=2002 |journal=Journal of West African Languages |volume=29 |issue=1 }}</ref> This results in the second vowel harmony controller being the [+ATR] value. If there is even one vowel that is [+ATR] in the whole word, then the rest of the vowels harmonize with that feature. However, if there is no vowel that is [+ATR], the vowels appear in their underlying form.<ref name="Bakovic 2000:ii" /> This form of vowel harmony control is best exhibited in West African languages. For example, in Nawuri, the diminutive suffix /-bi/ will cause the underlying [−ATR] vowels in a word to become phonetically [+ATR].<ref name="Casali 2002:29" />

There are two types of vowels which affect the harmony process. These are known as neutral or opaque vowels. Neutral vowels do not harmonize to the [ATR] value of the word, and instead maintain their own [ATR] value. The vowels that follow them, however, will receive the [ATR] value of the root. Opaque vowels maintain their own [ATR] value as well, but they affect the harmony process behind them. All of the vowels following an opaque vowel will harmonize with the [ATR] value of the opaque vowel instead of the [ATR] vowel of the root.<ref name="Unseth 2009:2-3" />

The vowel inventory listed above is a ten-vowel language. This is a language in which all of the vowels of the language participate in the harmony system, producing five harmonic pairs. Vowel inventories of this type are still found in some branches of Niger–Congo, for example in the [[Ghana-Togo Mountain languages]].<ref name="Anderson 1999">{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=C. G. |year=1999 |title=ATR vowel harmony in Akposso |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=185–214 |doi=10.32473/sal.v28i2.107372 |doi-access=free }}</ref> However, this is the rarer inventory as oftentimes there are one or more vowels that are not part of a harmonic pair. This has resulted in seven- and nine-vowel systems being the more popular systems. The majority of languages with [ATR] controlled vowel harmony have either seven or nine vowel phonemes, with the most common non-participatory vowel being /a/.<ref name="Morton 2012:70-71" /> It has been asserted that this is because vowel quality differences in the mid-central region where /ə/, the counterpart of /a/, is found, are difficult to perceive. Another possible reason for the non-participatory status of /a/ is that there is articulatory difficulty in advancing the tongue root when the tongue body is low in order to produce a low [+ATR] vowel.<ref name="Archangeli and Pulleyblank 1994">{{cite book |last1=Archangeli |first1=Diana |first2=Douglas |last2=Pulleyblank |year=1994 |title=Grounded Phonology |series=Current Studies in Linguistics |volume=25 |location=Cambridge |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-01137-9 }}</ref> Therefore, the vowel inventory for nine-vowel languages is generally:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [+ATR] !! [−ATR]
|-
| [i] || [ɪ]
|-
| [e] || [ɛ]
|-
| || [a]
|-
| [o] || [ɔ]
|-
| [u] || [ʊ]
|}

And seven-vowel languages have one of two inventories:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [+ATR] !! [−ATR]
|-
| [i] || [ɪ]
|-
| || [ɛ]
|-
| || [a]
|-
| || [ɔ]
|-
| [u] || [ʊ]
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [+ATR] !! [−ATR]
|-
| [i] ||
|-
| [e] || [ɛ]
|-
| || [a]
|-
| [o] || [ɔ]
|-
| [u] ||
|}

Note that in the nine-vowel language, the missing vowel is, in fact, [ə], [a]'s counterpart, as would be expected.<ref name="Casali 2008">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00064.x|title = ATR Harmony in African Languages| journal=Language and Linguistics Compass| volume=2| issue=3| pages=496–549|year = 2008|last1 = Casali|first1 = Roderic F.}}</ref>

The fact that ten vowels have been reconstructed for proto-Ijoid has led to the hypothesis that the original vowel inventory of Niger–Congo was a full ten-vowel system.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Doneux |first=Jean L. |year=1975 |title=Hypothèses pour la comparative des langues atlantiques |journal=Africana Linguistica |volume=6 |pages=41–129 |location=Tervuren |publisher=Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale |doi=10.3406/aflin.1975.892 }} (Re: proto-Atlantic)</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=Kay |year=2000 |chapter=Towards reconstructing Proto-Niger-Congo |title=Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of African Linguistics, Leipzig 1997 |editor-first=H. E. |editor-last=Wolff |editor2-first=O. |editor2-last=Gensler |pages=49–70 |location=Köln |publisher=Rüdiger Köppe |isbn=3-89645-124-3 }} (Re: proto-Ijoid)</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=John M. |title=Towards Volta-Congo Reconstruction : Rede |location=Leiden |publisher=Universitaire Pers Leiden |year=1976 |postscript=, |isbn=90-6021-307-6 }} {{cite journal |last=Casali |first=Roderic F. |title=On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo |journal=African Languages and Cultures |volume=8 |issue=2 |year=1995 |pages=109–121 |doi=10.1080/09544169508717790 }} (Re: proto-Volta-Conga)</ref> On the other hand, Stewart, in recent comparative work, reconstructs a seven-vowel system for his proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stewart |first=John M. |year=2002 |title=The potential of Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu as a pilot Proto-Niger-Congo, and the reconstructions updated |journal=Journal of African Languages and Linguistics |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=197–224 |doi=10.1515/jall.2002.012 }}</ref>

==== Nasality ====
Several scholars have documented a contrast between oral and [[nasal vowel]]s in Niger–Congo.<ref>le Saout (1973) for an early overview, Stewart (1976) for a diachronic, Volta–Congo wide analysis, Capo (1981) for a synchronic analysis of nasality in Gbe (see [[Gbe languages#Nasality in Gbe|Gbe languages: nasality]]), and Bole-Richard (1984, 1985) as cited in Williamson (1989) for similar reports on several Mande, Gur, Kru, Kwa, and Ubangi languages.<!-- the Bole-Richard citations are: Bole-Richard, Rémy (1984) 'Le nghwla, langue sans consonne nasale. CIRL 16:23–35 and Bole-Richard, Rémy (1985) 'Hypothèse sur la genèse de la nasalité en Niger–Congo', JWAL 15, 2, 3-28. --></ref> In his reconstruction of proto-Volta–Congo, Steward (1976) postulates that [[nasal stop|nasal consonants]] have originated under the influence of nasal vowels; this hypothesis is supported by the fact that there are several Niger–Congo languages that have been analysed as lacking nasal consonants altogether. Languages like this have nasal vowels accompanied with [[complementary distribution]] between oral and nasal consonants before oral and nasal vowels. Subsequent loss of the nasal/oral contrast in vowels may result in nasal consonants becoming part of the phoneme inventory. In all cases reported to date, the bilabial /m/ is the first nasal consonant to be phonologized. Niger–Congo thus invalidates two common assumptions about nasals:<ref>As noted by Williamson (1989:24). The assumptions are from Ferguson's (1963) 'Assumptions about nasals' in Greenberg (ed.) ''Universals of Language'', pp 50–60 as cited in Williamson art.cit.</ref> that all languages have at least one primary nasal consonant, and that if a language has only one primary nasal consonant it is /n/.

Niger–Congo languages commonly show fewer nasalized than oral vowels. [[Kasem language|Kasem]], a language with a ten-vowel system employing ATR vowel harmony, has seven nasalized vowels. Similarly, [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] has seven oral vowels and only five nasal ones. However, the language of [[Zialo language|Zialo]] has a nasal equivalent for each of its seven oral vowels.

==== Tone ====
The large majority of present-day Niger–Congo languages are [[tone (linguistics)|tonal]]. A typical Niger–Congo tone system involves two or three contrastive level tones. Four-level systems are less widespread, and five-level systems are rare. Only a few Niger–Congo languages are non-tonal; Swahili is perhaps the best known, but within the [[Atlantic languages|Atlantic]] branch some others are found. [[Proto-Niger-Congo|Proto–Niger–Congo]] is thought to have been a tone language with two contrastive levels. Synchronic and comparative-historical studies of tone systems show that such a basic system can easily develop more tonal contrasts under the influence of depressor consonants or through the introduction of a [[downstep]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Niger-Congo languages – Widespread characteristics of Niger-Congo languages {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Niger-Congo-languages/Widespread-characteristics-of-Niger-Congo-languages |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Languages which have more tonal levels tend to use tone more for lexical and less for grammatical contrasts.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Contrastive levels of tone in some Niger–Congo languages
! Tones !! Languages
|-
| H, L || [[Dyula language|Dyula]]-[[Bambara language|Bambara]], [[Maninka language|Maninka]], [[Temne language|Temne]], [[Dogon languages|Dogon]], [[Dagbani language|Dagbani]], [[Gbaya language|Gbaya]], [[Efik language|Efik]], [[Lingala]]
|-
| H, M, L || [[Yakuba language|Yakuba]], [[Nafaanra language|Nafaanra]], [[Kasena language|Kasem]], [[Banda languages|Banda]], [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], [[Jukun Takum language|Jukun]], [[Dangme language|Dangme]], [[Yukuben language|Yukuben]], [[Akan languages|Akan]], [[Anyi language|Anyi]], [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]]
|-
| T, H, M, L || [[Gban language|Gban]], [[Wobe language|Wobe]], [[Monzombo language|Monzombo]], [[Igede language|Igede]], [[Mambila language|Mambila]], [[Fon language|Fon]]
|-
| T, H, M, L, B || [[Tigon language|Ashuku]] (Benue–Congo), [[Dan-Santa language|Dan-Santa]] (Mande)
|-
| PA/S ||[[Mandinka language|Mandinka (Senegambia)]], [[Fula language|Fula]], [[Wolof language|Wolof]], [[Mwani language|Kimwani]]
|-
| none || [[Swahili language|Swahili]]
|-
|colspan=2|Abbreviations used: T top, H high, M mid, L low, B bottom, PA/S pitch-accent or stress<br /> Adapted from Williamson 1989:27
|}

=== Morphosyntax ===
==== Noun classification ====
Niger–Congo languages are known for their system of [[noun class]]ification, traces of which can be found in every branch of the family but Mande, Ijoid, Dogon, and the Katla and Rashad branches of Kordofanian. These noun-classification systems are somewhat analogous to [[grammatical gender]] in other languages, but there are often a fairly large number of classes (often 10 or more), and the classes may be male human/female human/animate/inanimate, or even completely gender-unrelated categories such as places, plants, abstracts, and groups of objects. For example, in Bantu, the Swahili language is called ''Kiswahili,'' while the Swahili people are ''Waswahili.'' Likewise, in Ubangian, the [[Zande language]] is called ''Pazande,'' while the [[Zande people]] are called ''Azande.''

In the Bantu languages, where noun classification is particularly elaborate, it typically appears as prefixes, with verbs and adjectives marked according to the class of the noun they refer to. For example, in Swahili, ''watu wazuri wataenda'' is 'good ''(zuri)'' people ''(tu)'' will go ''(ta-enda)'''.

==== Verbal extensions ====
The same Atlantic–Congo languages which have noun classes also have a set of [[verb applicative]]s and other verbal extensions, such as the [[Reciprocal (grammar)|reciprocal]] suffix ''-na'' (Swahili ''penda'' 'to love', ''pendana'' 'to love each other'; also applicative ''pendea'' 'to love for' and [[causative]] ''pendeza'' 'to please').

==== Word order ====
A [[subject–verb–object|subject-verb-object]] word order is quite widespread among today's Niger–Congo languages, but [[subject–object–verb|SOV]] is found in branches as divergent as [[Mande languages|Mande]], [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]] and [[Dogon languages|Dogon]]. As a result, there has been quite some debate as to the basic [[word order]] of Niger–Congo.

Whereas Claudi (1993) argues for SVO on the basis of existing SVO > SOV grammaticalization paths, Gensler (1997) points out that the notion of 'basic word order' is problematic as it excludes structures with, for example, [[Auxiliary verb|auxiliaries]]. However, the structure SC-OC-VbStem (Subject concord, Object concord, Verb stem) found in the "verbal complex" of the SVO Bantu languages suggests an earlier SOV pattern (where the subject and object were at least represented by pronouns).

[[Noun phrase]]s in most Niger–Congo languages are characteristically ''noun-initial'', with [[adjective]]s, [[Numeral (linguistics)|numerals]], [[demonstrative]]s and [[genitive]]s all coming after the noun. The major exceptions are found in the western<ref name=Haspelmath>Haspelmath, Martin; Dryer, Matthew S.; Gil, David and Comrie, Bernard (eds.) ''The World Atlas of Language Structures''; pp 346–385. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-19-925591-1}}</ref> areas where verb-final word order predominates and genitives precede nouns, though other modifiers still come afterwards. Degree words almost always follow adjectives, and except in verb-final languages [[adposition]]s are prepositional.

The verb-final languages of the Mende region have two quite unusual word order characteristics. Although verbs follow their direct objects, oblique adpositional phrases (like "in the house", "with timber") typically come after the verb,<ref name=Haspelmath /> creating a '''SOVX''' word order. Also noteworthy in these languages is the prevalence of internally headed and correlative [[relative clause]]s, in both of which the head occurs ''inside'' the relative clause rather than the main clause.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |isbn=9780819173751 |title=The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of Africa's Largest Language Family |editor-last1=Bendor-Samuel |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Hartell |editor-first2=Rhonda L. |date=1989 |publisher=University Press of America}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1= Patrick R. |last2=Sterk |first2=Jan P. |year=1977 |title=South Central Niger-Congo: A reclassification |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=241–273 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/0a02f9effcbfcf71a81dad37a463085d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1817060}}
*{{cite book |last=Blench |first=Roger |url=https://www.academia.edu/2326473 |chapter=Is Niger-Congo simply a branch of Nilo-Saharan? |isbn=3-927620-72-6 |pages=83–130 |title=Actes du Cinquième Colloque de Linguistique Nilo-Saharienne: 24 - 29 août 1992, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis |editor-last1=Nicolaï |editor-first1=Robert |editor-last2=Rottland |editor-first2=Franz |series=Nilo-Saharan |date=January 1995 |volume=10}}
*{{cite conference |last=Blench |first=Roger |year=2011 |title=Can Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes? |url=http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/blench-call-leiden-2011.pdf |conference=CALL 41 |location=Leiden |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423231958/http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/blench-call-leiden-2011.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-23}}
*{{cite conference |last=Blench |first=Roger |year=2011 |title=Should Kordofanian be split up? |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/Kordofanian/Nuba%20Hills%20conference%20paper%202011%20Kordofanian.pdf |conference=Nuba Hills Conference |location=Leiden}}
*{{cite journal |last=Capo |first=Hounkpati B.C. |year=1981 |title=Nasality in Gbe: A Synchronic Interpretation |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–43}}
*{{cite journal |last=Casali |first=Roderic F. |year=1995 |title=On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo |journal=African Languages and Cultures |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=109–121|doi=10.1080/09544169508717790 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Der-Houssikian |first=Haig |title=The Evidence for a Niger-Congo Hypothesis |journal=Cahiers d'Études Africaines |volume=12 |issue=46 |date=1972 |pages=316–22 |doi=10.3406/cea.1972.2768 |jstor=4391154}}
*{{cite journal |last=Dimmendaal |first=Gerrit |year=2008 |title=Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent |journal=Language and Linguistics Compass |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=840–858 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00085.x }}
*{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Joseph H. |author-link=Joseph Greenberg |year=1963 |title=The Languages of Africa |publisher=Indiana University Press}}
*{{cite journal |last=Gregersen |first=Edgar A. |year=1972 |title=Kongo-Saharan |journal=Journal of African Languages |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=46–56}}
*{{cite book |last1=Nurse |first1=Derek |last2=Rose |first2=Sarah |last3=Hewson |first3=John |year=2016 |url=https://www.africamuseum.be/sites/default/files/media/docs/research/publications/rmca/online/documents-social-sciences-humanities/tense-aspect-niger-congo.pdf |title=Tense and Aspect in Niger-Congo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522015707/https://www.africamuseum.be/sites/default/files/media/docs/research/publications/rmca/online/documents-social-sciences-humanities/tense-aspect-niger-congo.pdf |archive-date=2023-05-22 |isbn=978-9-4922-4429-1 |series=Documents on Social Sciences and Humanities |publisher=Royal Museum for Central Africa |location=Tervuren, Belgium}}
* {{cite book |isbn=978-0-89357-330-0 |chapter=On Niger-Congo Classification |pages=153–190 |title=The Bill Question: Contributions to the Study of Linguistics and Languages in Honor of Bill J. Darden on the Occasion of His Sixty-sixth Birthday |editor-last1=Darden |editor-first1=Bill J. |editor-last2=Aronson |editor-first2=Howard Isaac |date=2006 |publisher=Slavica Publishers |last=Olson |first=Kenneth S.}}
*{{cite journal |last=le Saout |first=J. |year=1973 |title=Languages sans consonnes nasales |oclc=772580339 |issn=1011-6737 |journal=Annales de l'Université d'Abidjan |series=Série H, Linguistique |lang=fr}}
*{{cite web |url=http://reflex.cnrs.fr/ |last1=Segerer |first1=G |last2=Flavier |first2=S |title=RefLex: Reference Lexicon |version=2.2}}
*{{cite speech |last=Stewart |first= John M. |year=1976 |title=Towards Volta-Congo reconstruction: a comparative study of some languages of Black-Africa |location=Leiden University}}
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1515/jall.2002.012 |title=The potential of Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu as a pilot Proto-Niger-Congo, and the reconstructions updated |date=2002 |last1=Stewart |first1=John M. |journal=Journal of African Languages and Linguistics |volume=23 |issue=2 }}
*{{cite book |last=Webb |first=Vic |year=2001 |title=African Voices: An Introduction to the Languages and Linguistics of Africa |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195716818}}
*{{cite book |oclc=42810789 |author-last1=Williamson |author-first1=Kay |author-last2=Blench |author-first2=Roger |chapter=Niger-Congo |pages=11–42 |title=African Languages: An Introduction |editor-last1=Heine |editor-first1=Bernd |editor-last2=Nurse |editor-first2=Derek |isbn=9780521661782}}

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}
*[http://www.sil.org/silewp/2004/silewp2004-005.pdf An Evaluation of Niger–Congo Classification], Kenneth Olson
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170517122243/http://www.africamuseum.be/museum/research/publications/rmca/online/tense.pdf Tense and Aspect in Niger–Congo], Derek Nurse, Sarah Rose & John Hewson
*[http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/NC/class.php Preliminary Niger–Congo classification] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509002856/http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/NC/class.php |date=2021-05-09 }} ([[Guillaume Segerer]] 2005, LLACAN)
*[http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/NC/docs.php Swadesh lists of African proto-language reconstructions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808190057/http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/NC/docs.php |date=2021-08-08 }} ([[Guillaume Segerer]] 2005, LLACAN)
*[http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/PhonologieN.php Phonologies and orthographies of African languages] (LLACAN)

;Journals
*[http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/lla/ Linguistique et Langues Africaines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113121918/http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/lla/ |date=2021-01-13 }} (LLA)
*[http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/fichiers/Mandenkan/index.html Journal Mandenkan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104083238/http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/fichiers/Mandenkan/index.html |date=2011-01-04 }} ([http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/pub_mandenkan_en.php introduction)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127075613/http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/pub_mandenkan_en.php |date=2021-01-27 }}
*[https://www.njas.fi/njas Nordic Journal of African Studies] ([http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/ archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711185147/http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/ |date=2020-07-11 }})
*[https://main.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/ Journal of West African languages]
*[https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jall Journal of African Languages and Linguistics]

{{Language families}}
{{Niger-Congo branches}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niger-Congo Languages}}
[[Category:Niger–Congo languages| ]]
[[Category:Proposed language families]]
[[Category:Niger-Congo-speaking peoples|*]]